The best tennis professionals have been meeting at the end of the season for more than half a century, and no German doubles have ever reached the semi-finals. Until now. Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz also win their second group game and have thus secured their progression ahead of time.
The US Open finalists Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz were the first German doubles team in the 55-year history of the tournament to reach the semi-finals of the end of the tennis season. The duo defeated the Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 7:5, 6:4 at the ATP Finals in Turin and survived the group phase early thanks to their second win in the second game.
According to the men’s organization ATP, no all-German doubles team has ever been in the top four. “Absolutely,” said Krawietz, “it’s a big piece of tennis history.” “It was great fun to play in front of the Italians, it was a cool atmosphere.” On Saturday, Krawietz and Pütz will play for a place in the final of the tournament, in which the eight most successful doubles pairings of the season will take part. The competition will be held in Turin parallel to the individual competition with Alexander Zverev.
With a splendid praise, Pütz secured the first break of the game, which was synonymous with winning the first set. The Davis Cup duo had already had two set points at 5:4, but the Italians, supported by the spectators, fended them off. In the second set the decision was made with the break to 6:4. “The difference was minimal, we could have just as easily lost the first set. The level was very, very high,” said Pütz.
The final group game against the still winless pairing of Rohan Bopanna/Matthew Ebden (India/Australia) is on Friday. At the start, the German duo had already surprised with a success against the number one seeded French Open winners Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic (El Salvador/Croatia).
Pütz/Krawietz barely qualified for the end of the season as the eighth-best team of the year and are taking part as a team for the first time in their second year together on the ATP tour. Krawietz had already taken part in the ATP Finals three times before, but never made it into the top four. Participation is a debut for Pütz; he was previously only there as a substitute player. Unlike singles participant Zverev, the German doubles will not be on vacation immediately after the ATP Finals. The two will compete with the German team at the Davis Cup finals in Malaga next week.
